This Moscow apartment featuring the area of 155 sq.m has been developed by Olesya Sitnikova and Ekaterina Tulupova, an architect and a designer, for a very progressive, clever and talented young man. At least, this is the impression he has made on the authors. According to their common opinion, it was a great pleasure to work with the customer which resulted in an apartment with a warm and unique spirit filled atmosphere.
At the initial stage, Arch.Predmet Interior Design Studio faced an object with the most common situation for a new building in Moscow – “raw” (unfinished) perimeter. This means a total absence of any partitions, leveling underlayment or any type of finishing at all. Insulated glass units and heaters provided by the building owner failed to comply with the minimum aesthetic and technical requirements.
The authors started to work on the idea taking main functions of the future interior and requirements to it as basis. The customer has selected a rather reasonable set of functions: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large shared area – a living room, dining room and kitchen – plus the necessary number of walk-in closets. As for the apartment owner, he is a serious and successful man, being enthusiastic about some things. Traditional English hunting is his passion. He took a fancy of the authors’ proposal to add the spirit of old England to the eclectic and contemporary interior. There was place enough to locate a safety display cabinet with the most beautiful berettas, antique silver and rare engravings representing elaborate hunting scenes. Speaking about the planning solution, it should be noted that the authors could arrange a circular motion with all main areas of the apartment being involved. However, each area can remain absolutely isolated. They have managed to avoid partitions in the main zone; as a result, one is impressed with a striking city view at the very moment of entering the apartment. Amid this urban panorama, they have found a place for a cozy and cherished harbor. The authors proposed deep and comfortable English sofas, antique consoles and cozy pouffes.
Fireplace surround facing with the wallpaper imitating wooden coffering at the background invites the guests to have a ceremonial dinner where wild foul is served as a main course. A color scheme of the interior was inspired by Zoffany wallpaper designers. The material itself was not used for interior finishing, but the color scheme of the wallpaper’s fragment has been extensively used in all space planes.
This is a traditionally subdued red color serving as an accent against a grey-olive wall surface. Shades of grey and blue appear twice, as a cool addition to this dense and deep palette.
In the living room, the space featuring the largest area, the authors have made one concealed door. It visually disappeared and made the room interior less complicated. The same technique was applied in the bedroom. They made a storage cabinet laconic in style to the fullest extent possible and painted it the same color as the walls. The cabinet has disappeared, but the function has remained. To make the walls more emphatic and textured, the architects selected compound and intense colors, which is traditional for the custom studio design. Little greene paint from England is the best choice to turn the ideas into reality. And cooperation with the owner of Grand HallCompany manufacturing solid wood flooring gave exceptional results, both from aesthetic and technical point of view. Each time, floor planks were custom tailored, making impossible the chance of any shade or size mistakes to occur. A non-monotonic palette of marble rhombuses for bathroom tiling was a custom tailored solution manufactured by the Italian plant. For bottom part, the authors have selected standard travertine planks 60 x 30 cm in size (Cotto Veneto, Petra, Italy) provided by Rim.ru.
Olesya Sitnikova and Ekaterina Tulupova, authors of the project:
“Lighting plays an essential role in this project. We selected an active form for the source of light, so that it can not only illuminate the functional area, but also act as a prominent decorative accent in the interior. In the dining room, the source of light is an opal white dome dominating plastically and forming a pillar of light. A kind of beacon, providing one with a sense of stability in a huge space where three separate areas are concentrated. Above the kitchen island, we placed two rather convincing lanterns. With such a background, the dining room area seems more delicate. For the dining zone, this is an important factor inviting to have a good time. The impressive metal light fixtures are a link between the urban landscape and our internal feelings related to the apartment design. There is no need to make a stylistic contrast with the panorama of a modern city. A convenient and functional faucet at the kitchen island is a perfect match to these interesting giants”.